California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.90.

Several research firms have recently commented on CRC. Mizuho boosted their price objective on California Resources from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Zacks Research upgraded California Resources from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of California Resources in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of California Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of California Resources from $56.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th.

California Resources Price Performance

CRC stock opened at $61.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average is $54.45 and its 200-day moving average is $50.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a PE ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 1.12. California Resources has a 1 year low of $30.97 and a 1 year high of $66.35.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $924.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $789.67 million. California Resources had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that California Resources will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. California Resources’s payout ratio is presently 39.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at California Resources

In other California Resources news, EVP Christopher D. Gould sold 24,347 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.21, for a total transaction of $1,514,626.87. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 131,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,182,916.77. The trade was a 15.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Omar Hayat sold 23,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total value of $1,515,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 82,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,416,885.32. This trade represents a 21.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 72,283 shares of company stock worth $4,636,646. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in California Resources during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in California Resources by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,102,049 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $49,273,000 after acquiring an additional 32,460 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in California Resources by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 11,313 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 862 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in California Resources by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,616,761 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $72,285,000 after acquiring an additional 174,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in California Resources by 116.0% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 100,631 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,499,000 after acquiring an additional 54,041 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) is an independent exploration and production company focused exclusively on developing oil and natural gas assets in California. Headquartered in Newport Beach, the company engages in hydraulic fracturing, well completions, reservoir management and enhanced recovery operations to produce crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

CRC’s operations are concentrated in three core regions: the Los Angeles Basin, the Ventura Basin and the San Joaquin Basin.